Lombardi was born in Alessandria, in the Piedmont region of northern Italy, in 1942. He studied mechanical engineering at the University of Bologna, acquiring the technical foundations that would carry him into Italy's most competitive industrial and motorsport environments.
After graduating, Lombardi was recruited by the Fiat research centre, where he developed expertise in engine design and automotive engineering. He subsequently moved to Lancia, where his engine work contributed to the manufacturer's campaigns in the World Rally Championship and in sports car racing — programmes that placed Lancia among the most successful competition manufacturers of the era. Lombardi rose to head of the engineering department at Lancia, accumulating deep experience in high-performance powertrain development under demanding competition conditions.
When Cesare Fiorio moved from Lancia to Ferrari, Lombardi continued at Lancia in his departmental role. In 1989, Fiorio invited Lombardi to join him at the Scuderia, bringing him into one of the most scrutinised and pressurised environments in Formula One.
Ferrari's results in the early 1990s were inconsistent, and the departure of Fiorio in 1991 created a leadership vacuum at the team. Luca di Montezemolo, who had rejoined Ferrari's management, promoted Lombardi from his engineering role to team manager to stabilise the organisation while a long-term leadership solution was found. Lombardi held the position until the arrival of Jean Todt in 1993, a period during which he was responsible for managing operations across race weekends while the technical programme was in transition.
In 1993, Lombardi designed the Ferrari twelve-cylinder engine that would power the team through the following two seasons. The engine achieved a landmark distinction: it scored the last two victories for a twelve-cylinder configuration in Formula One history. Gerhard Berger took the first of these wins at the 1994 German Grand Prix, and Jean Alesi secured the second at the 1995 Canadian Grand Prix. The latter race, Alesi's only Formula One victory, became one of the most celebrated moments of that decade and stands as a defining memory for Ferrari's twelve-cylinder era.
In 1994, Lombardi transitioned to Ferrari's GT programme, applying his engine expertise to the manufacturer's road and competition car development outside Formula One. From 2000 to 2010, he served as technical consultant for the Italian motorcycle manufacturer Aprilia. In that capacity, he designed the engine for the Aprilia RSV4 superbike, which provided Max Biaggi with the Superbike World Championship title in 2010 — a second major competitive achievement across different motorsport disciplines.
Lombardi died in Alessandria on 2 October 2025, at the age of 83. His career bridged the rally boom of the 1980s, the competitive intensity of Ferrari's Formula One campaigns, and the superbike championship era, leaving a record of significant engine designs across multiple forms of competition.